Why does Revit shows white materials as grey?

[MMinistrelli]

I have created a light fixture and appiled a white material. 

I am showing decals in the same elevation so I am using Realistic View.  If I switch to Consistent Colors then my lights show up white but then my decals disappear. 

Can you tell me if there is a way to have my lights show white and  show the decals at the same time?

[AJA14]

Hi.

The asset that controls consistent colors visuals is the graphics while the rendering, you use the appearance asset.

Check if you have set up the correct properties in both. You can also tell Revit to show the shaded view similar to the rendered material. Revit then generates a color that is as close as possible to the rendered material.

If this is not your problem then please provide images for us to better understand the problem and be able to help you.

Regards,

[MMinistrelli]

Thank you for your quick response. I am still pretty new to Revit. Can you tell me how to tell Revit to show the shaded view similar to the rendered material?

Thank you again for your help!

[scott_d_davis · Accepted solution]

The "white" showing as grey is really just a function of light.  Look at the "white" ceiling in the room you are actually in (not the model, the real room, if it's white  )  what color does it really appear to be?

[mcdonoughBNRJE]

Your reply isn't a solution to this problem and it's insulting response. We need to be able to print and visualize things that are white as white, not a grey tone. Do you have a solution to using realistic views in Revit to show white as white and not a grey tone?

[mcdonoughBNRJE]

Best work around is to make sure to save your material assets that you want in a Rendered view.  Then create a new material asset from the default material.  Make that defualt material white, with a dim white glow and white tint.  This will transform it in your realistic views to white and not a shade a of grey

[scott_d_davis]

Wow a reply almost 3 years to the day that I posted it. Sorry, wasn't meant to be insulting, its just the way that light works. In order to get pure white, you need the full spectrum of intense lighting in your scene. Any shading/shadowing of surfaces at all, and it will turn some shade of grey. You could experiment with placing "Omni" lights in your scene (Omni is a light source with no physical container) and see if that helps. You can also control the color and intensity of lights in a Revit model. Here's some info on controlling intensity of lights: http://help.autodesk.com/view/RVT/2016/ENU/?guid=GUID-C7DF1473-319D-4FC5-94D5-A9FFC45A3ABA

[mcdonoughBNRJE]

I think we're talking about two different thing.  You're trying to change a rendering or something that is realistically portraying what something looks like vs us trying to create an image to give to a client so they see the color and material pallette displayed on a 3D view.  What is needed is a way that Revit can have view type that shows materials and finishes, but produces them using a color vs a rendered material

While in renderings there are many ways, including lighting effects, to make this happen.  When we're trying to produce process, or other intermidate views, colors need to be represented as they are selected.  

I know its a little backwards seeing as everyone talks about photorealism.  Clients though aren't always that intellegent about color and lighting.  Simple colored views with material pallettes shown is often the best way to get a client on board with your ideas.

Hopefully this gives a little definition to the problems we are trying to solve

[scott_d_davis]

oh ok, I understand. Earlier you said "in Realistic Views". The Realistic View setting is not a rendered view, its just a display of materials on the Revit model.. But the Realsitic View setting DOES take into account lights that you may have placed in your model, whether they are physical lights or Omni lights.

Nice thing about Realistic is that it can be customized to show lines, shadows, sketchy line effects, ambient shadows, etc so that you can come up with "presentation views" for your client without rendering a "photoreal" image.

Additionally, the work around you talk about is an option. Giving a material a "glow" causes it in effect to be its own light source, and thereforce whites will look whiter.

[paul.martinez.design]

Have there been any improvements in recent releases?  I too am having this same issue.  I am about to visit the job site with the designer and he wanted color elevations so we can review the elevations one final time.  The project has a white, light gray, and dark gray.  Unfortunately the white looks like the light gray so it's not very helpful.

[Greg.wharton]

Seven years on, this is still not fixed. I can't make white objects actually look white in 3D. Every other modeling program I work with can do this simple thing, but not Revit.

[33nbrown]

this works!